Processing of substrates in semiconductor component manufacturing is carried out in process tools. Substrates travel between the process tools in substrate carriers (e.g., Front Opening Unified Pods or FOUPs) which can dock to a factory interface of the tool (otherwise referred to as an “equipment front end module (EFEM)”). The factory interface includes a factory interface chamber that can contain a load/unload robot that is operable to transfer substrates between the respective FOUPs docked to the factory interface and one or more process chambers. In some vacuum tools, substrates pass from the substrate carrier through the factory interface chamber to a load lock and then into a processing chamber for processing.
Recently, there has been a move in the semiconductor processing industry to control the environment within the factory interface, such as by supplying a purge gas (e.g., an inert gas) into the factory interface chamber or into the wafer FOUPs. However, such systems can suffer from performance problems.
Accordingly, factory interface apparatus and factory interface operating methods having improved capability are desired.